coolest car job I found for me was afterI did auto body then mechanics was in the bone yards high & dry no muss no fuss everything was kool until some old granny dies and the no brain kids junk the old classic pound for pound more money to be made in recycling than all the othe ones combined if your the owner its a kool sound when that press comes down blows out the windows crushes the body and when the block busts 1. I get to play w/ my tools 2.I dont have to worry at the end of the day that the repair was done right 3 . WHEN IN DOUBT BREAK OUT THE TORCH 4.I dident have to fix a damn thing I have respect for Jessie James he WAS a mechanic before what ever show it is got him Boyd whats his face .... go build some models from wal mart same thing IMO I have fixed a bunch of different stuff in my short time here but I've killed more cars than I fixed and by the same token all the bone yards I've worked at were all run by loonatics about (12) so my dream job would be to own my own 100 acre bone yard SR66
I don't HAVE a cool car job (just a dumb old cowboy) but I think I'd side with Scotch. I think workin for a bitchin' magazine would be the cats ass. Would be great to be a photographer exclusively devoted to car event coverage. I can work on cars anytime. It'd be great to get paid to gawk at 'em or write about 'em. Just drop into your lead sled and head to Texas for the weekend to cover the Lonestar roundup or some crap like that. That'd rule...
I think my Father-in-law had the coolest jobs ever. He was a Corsair mechanic during the big WWII, then after the war he got in with a road race team taking delivery of the new Ferrari, Lotus, and Austin Healy cars and tuning them for the track. Manage to move into driver for the team and was even featured on Wide World of Sports..... After that he worked odd jobs and is now retired. Spends his time relaxing and going flying with my wife....
I was mechanic and manager of a Suzuki and Can Am dealership while in college. Cheap parts! I worked for HD in their paint department in Kansas City. Not bad, but dead end. Lotsa idiots employed there. I got to help prep a major collection of antique cars last spring. V-16 Cad, many Pierce Arrows, 1892 Benz, Indian and HD bikes, curved dash Olds, '04 Knox, '37 Chevy firetruck that I bought, '12 Winton, '14 Caddy with glass hood, Packard and Stutz firetrucks with engines big enough to power an ocean liner, etc. It was really fun!
I have the coolest car job right now. I work In Roadstars shop as "shop bitch" and even though i have to sweep and take the garbage out i still get to work on cool ass shit like 32 Ford 5 windows and I get to learn how to do it all right. Theres not been a day yet when i havnt learned 3 new things or worked on something cool. I cant complain! If you want to be happy do what you know and do what you love. Back when i worked mostley on late model garbage i didnt want to touch my own cars when i got home. But now i am inspired to take my car to the leaval of cars at the shop and put in those extra hours at home to do so.
The old man and I owned a Gas station in Long Beach in the 70's. Pay kinda sucked, but I made enough and had enough time do do the work to race an Olds 442. That was when I was young and stupid and gas was $.39 a gallon. Since Gas is $3.00 a gallon, My dream car job now would be to own a gas station so I could afford to go racing AGAIN.
Well, today I accepted a spot as a machinist at a place that builds supercharger kits for Vipers and Dodge V10 trucks. I'm going to build up the CNC area, since they're unfamiliar with that sort of thing, and help where I can to develop some of the products. I'm taking a pretty significant pay cut, but I can see actually loving to go in every day. The employees I met seemed cool as hell and the owner's a hardcore gearhead; he stresses the importance of everyone's projects. HOLY SHIT! My previous job was almost effortless and seriously mindless, but the political stress, conniving chess games and lying management really fucked with me. The money wasn't worth it, so fuck the corporate world.
Hey Slammed..That looks like Nick George's car in the corner..I know where YOU work..ha ha ha.. Spike
I think I may have the coolest car job, at least for me it is! After spending 13 years with my own "perfect job" being self-employed with my own Automotive Collectibles store here in the Detroit area, I found having to get a "real job" after 911 and was able to get myself working as a Product Specialist for the Ford/Harley Davidson Road Show. At this job I was paid to go to Daytona, Sturgis, Myrtle Beach and California even to the Love Ride and a whole bunch more. (Got to meet Leno and Billy Gibbons there!) I also "toured" with the Cadillac CTS/V Road show when they got back into racing and spent time with the Corvette and Cadillac team (Pratt and Miller) and got to meet all kinds of teams and drivers and see Road Atlanta, Laguna Seca, Sebring and all the rest. Heck...I was even invited to the Victory Celebration at Sebring when Cadillac took 1st and 2nd and the Corvette won too! At the same time I was also the Product Specialist for the GM Tuner Tour and travelled to SEMA/IAS, NOPI, NHRA races and even to California for Drift events. Got to know Marty Ladwig and Nelson Hoyos real well doing this. (These guys are HUGE in the Tuner world) And then...it got even better. I was offered a promotion to Program Manager for GM Restoration and GMPP Road Shows to go along with my previous Cadillac and GM Tuner Tour gigs which meant travelling to MORE Car Shows and events, and then.... The "Big Boss" calls me into his office, closes the door and says he has been losing sleep when suddenly it came to him; I am the "Perfect Guy" for a position he knows CASI has been trying to fill for several years with no luck! And so..here I am working for Championship Auto Shows, Inc. travelling all over the country promoting and putting on indoor Car Shows. Last year I travelled all over from Houston to Omaha, Kansas City, Chicago, Green Bay, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittburg, Baltimore, Grand Rapids and of course was able to be a part of something brand new (or is that "brand Old?") in Detroit; the Autorama Extreme. And talk about meeting people? The list goes on and on and what a great bunch of people, some famous, some not so famous. I even did Waffle House with Courtney Hanson! The cities may not sound all that exciting, but when you are in them filling up a Convention Center with cars and car people, well...you get the idea. Well, let me tell you, for a "Car Guy" like me...it just doesn't get any better. Hell...in the off season I travel to Good Guys events, the Street Rod Nats, the big NOPI Tuner event in Atlanta and more and I love every single minute of it. Well...enough of my long-winded answer to a simple question! Gotta go pack my bags as I am off to Houston in the morning for our first Autorama of the new season! Life is good....
Every day I walk out to the shop and work on my own bikes......my own ideas....total freedom...with nobody to influence me in any way. I then sell my stuff to people that like what I build. I work seven days a week and would work eight if possible....I love it and I hope to do this till the day I die.....Retire???....FUCK THAT!!!!
I don't know that my job is the coolest, but I enjoy it. I work for a Gov't. contractor building diesels for HMMWV's, 5-Ton trucks, etc.. I'm one of 2 automotive machinists in our shop (11 people total), and the only guy that can run the crank grinder. Never thought that I'd end up working on stinkin' dirty diesels, but it pays the bills. That, and I get a kick out of the reactions that I get from people that have never seen a crank grinder in action, especially when I'm grindeing rod journals. "Oh, so THAT'S how they do that!"
I've got what most would probably call a pretty damn cool job. I work in a shop that specializes in restoring european cars. I've worked on a couple ferrari's, a couple pantera's, more old jags than you can shake a stick at, couple Rolls, a Bentley, few Porsches, and of course i get to test drive all of them. Unfortunatly, i get shit for pay, and it doesnt matter how cool your job is, if its all you can do to pay the bills every month, your not going to be happy. keep that in mind. and for what its worth, sounds like hatch has the dream job. I'd love to do the same, but with cars. Maybe someday.
I've had several interesting car jobs: Praktikant (apprentice, sorta) in car manufacturer's body design section (BMW) Renderer/grunt for amazing race car designer (Frank Costin) Layout designer for Indy car proposal (McDonnell Douglas) Independent inventor/designer, working on many kinds of products including automotive Trainee/gofer in resto/custom body shop Toy designer for several companies, including many who made car toys (Mattel/Hot Wheels, Tomy/Pocket Cars, Aurora/AFX, Cox, Tonka, Galoob/Micro Machines) All of these jobs had their moments of delight and satisfaction. Unfortunately most of them paid little, until I became an executive in the last few toy companies. My last job -- VP of Design for Hot Wheels -- was absolutely the perfect job for me, until the company suggested that I retire. So I did. Now I work on my cars, play with my toys, and write stuff, but nobody's paid me to do anything for some time. I may have to invent a new job!
Ugh. Reading your story reminded me of working for Zeiss and travelling the country... it was fun for the first couple years, then I couldn't take it. It was pretty bad... I figured I spent about $10k on drinking in hotels in podunk towns by myself the one year. Needless to say I don't drink much anymore! It's awesome that you like it, hey, it even sounds like a cool job to me... I've just had my fill of the travelling life. Ben
I restore and maintain WWII vehicles, tanks, and aircraft for the War Memorial in Australia. My wife says I don't have a job, just play with toys all day. I secrectly hop up all those side valve's in the trucks.
RE: Boyd comment, okay i'm from the UK, so maybe i got a different perspective on Boyd's place, but from where i'm sitting, any guy that owns a hotrod shop and his daily driver is a Jaguar (cough Rover cough), and thinks that cutting corners just to beat his own deadlines sucks... I've been there and the most impressive thing there is the toilet, unless you like Billet and plastic, but i prefer my plastic at Hooters. Best job I ever had, working @ a Kustom Harley / Hotrod shop for a guy that thought every customer was wrong and just did what the hell he liked. We built some sweet ass bikes and rides. Alot of it depends on who you work for too, i worked in hotrod shops for ass holes, and it makes your job suck, working with a cool bunch of guys makes a big difference!
I used to think that boyds and others made hotrod shops look really bad til I took a fabricater job at one particular local shop. They hired a "super fabricater" that bought his experience at wyoming tech. What a turd... He threw a wrench into everything and anything. Terrible fab/body man. Screw up as a welder. Asshole as a person. Expert on everything. Stab you in the back right in front of you............... There are lots of turds like him in the industry aspiring to be a jackass like boyd whatshisname It seems that a lot of guys came out of wyoming tech with poor attitudes. They were generally the ones that new very little when they went in and were all encompassing experts in 6 months. But on the other hand, a local body shop owner/buddy enrolled in wyotech and he broadened his knowledge and used it to his advantage. But He also had a good attitude to begin with so no "fat head syndrome". moe .................................................................................................. http://groups.msn.com/FordFlathead1932to1953/moesgarage.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=3280
1st off i dont really give a shit what you would be embarassed to drive second i wouldnt drive it either but it puts food on my table cheers david
I agree on the idle, a retired friend down the street has a few. Congrats on the new job! As for me, what is it? 4 Years? that I have been in the rod and custom shop........Fun job, some days I am a secratary, some days I am a designer, some days I clean the toilet. Happy with it all. My main title is sales/office manager. I handle all the billing (as in every little part in a car, down to the electrical terminals), logistics and traffic in the shop. If shit rolls downhill, I am the guy that hears it. I love fabricating, but wouldnt do it over my job, I get to deal with PEOPLE and their dream cars.
Well mine ain't bad, I build hot rods and race cars and buy and sell same on ebay. always something cool to drive in the name of inventory. have one man woring with me and we work when we want to mostly. but Im 57 and feel like I deserve it after all the years as service manager etc....
I think I have a combination of a couple of the coolest car jobs. First and foremost I am a writer. I went to college to become a journalist to write about cars. And just to prove I know what I'm talking about I got an automotive engineering degree (which has paid off more than once). Until I get my own column (i.e. or a steady paycheck from a mag) I had to take another job. I do all the public relations and marketing for a classic car dealership. We have over 100 cars ranging from model ts thru muscle cars. I get to work on them, drive them and go to shows and auctions all across the US. All the while meeting cool people, picking up parts for my own projects and getting paid. Not a bad gig, just happened to be in the right place at the right time. *Shameless plug* If you're looking for a tech or feature writer PM me, I'd be glad to help you out!
Not the coolest, but my first year and a half in this gig has been pretty good -- for a lifelong gearhead. I'm the brand (marketing) manager for PEAK Antifreeze. So far, I've been able to push these things through: > Select a "Miss PEAK", and drive her from city to city on the Power Tour in a PEAK/SplitFire C6 Corvette as part of our promotion with HRM and AutoZone > Sign Danica Patrick, get to shoot print ads, posters, and TV spots with her, hold a few press conferences with her, hit a few races, then title sponsor the IndyCar race in Chicago (and got to sit in the driver's meeting that morning) > Primary sponsor an NHRA Top Fuel team for a couple of races, and get to stand at the line in my crew shirt for the launches > Get to go to SEMA/AAPEX > To again have PEAK be a sponsor the Hunnert Car Pileup! (fun when you can combine personal stuff with work!) All this as part of my job! Best thing is that I've been able to meet lots of cool people who share my passion. Would be cooler if I had more time and money to build/scavenge/tinker rather than hours behind a desk and weekends at work! JR
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